Method of effecting an electronic transaction

ABSTRACT

A method of effecting an electronic transaction is described. The method includes receiving, through a merchant aggregator platform, a selection of one or more articles from a plurality of articles offered for purchase by a plurality of merchants on the merchant aggregator platform, wherein the platform is hosted by a merchant acquirer. Payment vehicle credentials of a payment vehicle are then passed to a payment gateway, and a vehicle representative (VR) is created at the payment gateway and associated with one or more credentials of the payment vehicle, the VR being usable by the merchant aggregator platform, in place of the one or more credentials, but from which the one or more credentials are indeterminable. The VR is then provided to the merchant aggregator platform through which a purchase request is received to confirm that the one or more articles have been purchased. Purchase details of the purchase request are then sent with the VR to the payment gateway at which the payment vehicle credentials are associated with the purchase details, based on the VR, and passed with the payment vehicle credentials to the merchant acquirer for on-going processing of the transaction.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a U.S. National Stage filing under 35 U.S.C. §119,based on and claiming benefit of and priority to SG Patent ApplicationNo. 10201505235P filed Jul. 1, 2015.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to electronic transactions and, inparticular, electronic transactions performed on an electronic platformthrough which articles from multiple merchants can be purchased.

BACKGROUND

Over the last few decades electronic and physical transactions haveincreasingly involved the use of physical credit cards and the detailsof physical credit cards. More recently, transactions have moved towardsthe use of a digital or virtual wallet.

A digital wallet is typically an app on a smartphone in which a userretains information about their payment vehicle such as credit cards andbank accounts. The electronic wallet is activated when making atransaction and an appropriate payment vehicle is selected from thewallet to provide funds for the transaction.

Payment vehicle credentials, such as credit card number and expiry date,are sent from the electronic wallet to a merchant and from the merchantto a payment gateway through which the transaction is effected. Thepayment gateway sends the payment vehicle credentials to the electronicplatform for association with the transaction. Once the owner of thedigital wallet approves the transaction, checkout credentials (includingthe amount of the transaction, the payment vehicle credentials and soforth) are sent back to the payment gateway, from there to a merchantacquirer (i.e. a bank) and onward for further processing and subsequentsettlement.

Despite security measures being in place for regulating onlinetransactions and the platforms on which they can be made, thesignificant number of merchants and even larger number of transactionsmeans that data is sometimes intercepted. Since that data includespayment vehicle credentials, funds can be stolen or misappropriatedduring online transactions.

There are also problems faced by some merchants. Where the electronicplatform is a smartphone, a merchant often requires an app in order toenable transactions. The development of an app, its servicing andmaintenance can be costly and is an unjustifiable expense for somemerchants. Moreover, the merchant must then afford the setup andmanagement of online credit and debit card transactions. Moreover, themerchant must then setup a merchant account with a bank or cardassociation in order to support electronic, card-based transactions byconsumers.

In addition, when settling an electronic transaction the merchantacquirer receives funds, transfer those funds to the payment gateway andthe payment gateway delivers the funds (minus a fee) to the merchant.This multi-handling of settlement funds necessarily takes time to passthrough the systems of the merchant acquirer and payment gateway, anddeprives the merchant of access to those funds for longer than may benecessary.

It would be useful, therefore, to provide a method of effecting anelectronic transaction with improved security for payment vehiclecredentials, that enables all merchants to take advantage of app-basedpurchases, or that reduces the amount of handling of settlement fundsbefore they are delivered to the merchant.

SUMMARY

In an aspect, the present invention provides a method of effecting anelectronic transaction, comprising:

receiving, through a merchant aggregator platform, a selection of one ormore articles from a plurality of articles offered for purchase by aplurality of merchants on the merchant aggregator platform, wherein theplatform is hosted by a merchant acquirer;

passing payment vehicle credentials of a payment vehicle to a paymentgateway;

creating a vehicle representative (VR) at the payment gateway andassociating the VR with one or more credentials of the payment vehicle,the VR being usable by the merchant aggregator platform, in place of theone or more credentials, but from which the one or more credentials areindeterminable;

providing the VR to the merchant aggregator platform;

receiving, through the merchant aggregator platform, a purchase requestconfirming that the one or more articles have been purchased;

sending purchase details of the purchase request with the VR to thepayment gateway; and

identifying the payment vehicle credentials and associating them withthe purchase details, at the payment gateway, based on the VR andpassing the payment vehicle credentials and purchase details to themerchant acquirer for on-going processing of the transaction.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a computer system foreffecting an electronic transaction, the computer system comprising:

a memory device for storing data;

a display; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory device and being configuredto:

-   -   receive, through a merchant aggregator platform, a selection of        one or more articles from a plurality of articles offered for        purchase by a plurality of merchants on the merchant aggregator        platform, wherein the platform is hosted by a merchant acquirer;    -   pass payment vehicle credentials of a payment vehicle to a        payment gateway;    -   create a vehicle representative (VR) at the payment gateway and        associate the VR with one or more credentials of the payment        vehicle, the VR being usable by the merchant aggregator        platform, in place of the one or more credentials, but from        which the one or more credentials are indeterminable;    -   provide the VR to the merchant aggregator platform;    -   receive, through the merchant aggregator platform, a purchase        request confirming that the one or more articles have been        purchased;    -   send purchase details of the purchase request with the VR to the        payment gateway; and    -   identify the payment vehicle credentials and associating them        with the purchase details, at the payment gateway, based on the        VR and passing the payment vehicle credentials and purchase        details to the merchant acquirer for on-going processing of the        transaction.

In a further aspect, the present invention provides a computer programembodied on non-transitory computer readable media for effecting anelectronic transaction, the program comprising at least one code segmentexecutable by a computer to instruct the computer to:

receive, through a merchant aggregator platform, a selection of one ormore articles from a plurality of articles offered for purchase by aplurality of merchants on the merchant aggregator platform, wherein theplatform is hosted by a merchant acquirer;

pass payment vehicle credentials of a payment vehicle to a paymentgateway;

create a vehicle representative (VR) at the payment gateway andassociate the VR with one or more credentials of the payment vehicle,the VR being usable by the merchant aggregator platform, in place of theone or more credentials, but from which the one or more credentials areindeterminable;

provide the VR to the merchant aggregator platform;

receive, through the merchant aggregator platform, a purchase requestconfirming that the one or more articles have been purchased;

send purchase details of the purchase request with the VR to the paymentgateway; and

identify the payment vehicle credentials and associating them with thepurchase details, at the payment gateway, based on the VR and passingthe payment vehicle credentials and purchase details to the merchantacquirer for on-going processing of the transaction.

In yet another aspect, the present invention provides a network-basedsystem for effecting an electronic transaction, the system comprising:

a computer system;

at least one database;

a display; and

a server system coupled to the client computer system and the database,the server system configured to:

-   -   receive, through a merchant aggregator platform, a selection of        one or more articles from a plurality of articles offered for        purchase by a plurality of merchants on the merchant aggregator        platform, wherein the platform is hosted by a merchant acquirer;    -   pass payment vehicle credentials of a payment vehicle to a        payment gateway;    -   create a vehicle representative (VR) at the payment gateway and        associate the VR with one or more credentials of the payment        vehicle, the VR being usable by the merchant aggregator        platform, in place of the one or more credentials, but from        which the one or more credentials are indeterminable;    -   provide the VR to the merchant aggregator platform;    -   receive, through the merchant aggregator platform, a purchase        request confirming that the one or more articles have been        purchased;    -   send purchase details of the purchase request with the VR to the        payment gateway; and    -   identify the payment vehicle credentials and associating them        with the purchase details, at the payment gateway, based on the        VR and passing the payment vehicle credentials and purchase        details to the merchant acquirer for on-going processing of the        transaction.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for effectingsettlement of a purchase, the method comprising:

providing a merchant aggregator platform hosted by a merchant acquirer;

sending purchase details of a purchase made by a consumer of one or morearticles offered for sale by a merchant through the platform, from theplatform to the merchant acquirer;

forwarding the purchase details from the merchant acquirer to a paymentscheme or issuer for debiting settlement funds from an account of theconsumer; and

forwarding, independently of the purchase details being sent to theissuer, settlement funds to the merchant to settle the purchase.

Unless context dictates otherwise, the following terms will be given themeaning provided here:

“article” relates to anything that can be purchased through theplatform, including one of many goods and services.

“indeterminable”, as it applies to the vehicle representative (VR) andthe one or more payment vehicle credentials, means that the one or morepayment vehicle credentials cannot be determined from the vehiclerepresentative. In other words, the VR is not an encryption or cipher.As such, the one or more payment vehicle credentials cannot bedetermined if the VR is intercepted by a third party, yet the VR can beused by merchants to affect online transactions.

“vehicle representative” or “VR” applies to a string or data structurethat can be associated with a transaction, by a merchant, in place of(e.g. as a proxy to) credit card or payment vehicle credentials. Thus,the merchant never need be made aware of the actual payment vehiclecredentials of the payment vehicle from which funds are drawn, in orderto afford the transaction.

“payment vehicle” includes a credit card, debit card, virtual card, bankaccount or any other means from which funds can be debited to affect atransaction.

“payment vehicle credentials” are any credentials necessary to affect atransaction. Those credentials may include a credit card number, accountnumber, card or account balance, expiry date and so forth.

“merchant aggregator platform” refers to an app or website on whichmultiple merchants can offer goods or services for sale, and throughwhich consumers can purchase the goods or services of a merchant, alongwith a backend for operating the platform and interfacing orcommunicating with other systems.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some embodiments will now be described, by way of non-limiting exampleonly, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: the methodof FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic overview of a network for performing the method ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic overview of a method for effecting settlement ofan electronic transaction in accordance with present teachings;

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatical overview of the interrelationship betweenvarious parties for performing the method of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an expanded block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of aserver architecture of a computer system for effecting an electronictransaction; and

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary configuration of a server system shownin FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As used herein, an element or step recited in the singular and proceededwith the word “a” or “an” should be understood as not excluding pluralelements or steps, unless such exclusion is explicitly recited.Furthermore, references to “one embodiment” of the present invention arenot intended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additionalembodiments that also incorporate the recited features.

FIG. 1 shows a method 100 for effecting an electronic transaction. Thetransaction relates to the purchase of an article, or multiple articles,on a merchant aggregator platform such as a mobile app. While there areadditional, potentially optional, steps shown in FIG. 1, the method 100broadly involves:

receiving, through a merchant aggregator platform, a selection of one ormore articles for purchase (step 106);

passing payment vehicle credentials to a payment gateway (step 108);

creating a vehicle representative (VR) (step 110);

providing the VR to the merchant aggregator platform (step 112);

receiving, through the merchant aggregator platform, a purchase request

confirming that the one or more articles have been purchased (step 114)

sending purchase and the VR to the payment gateway (116); and

identifying the payment vehicle credentials associated with the VR(118).

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, before a transaction takes place somearticles must be offered for purchase by one or more merchants. To thatend, merchants register with the merchant aggregator platform (step102). Registration involves establishing an access account, includingaccount login and password, and access credentials by which settlementcan be effected. There are two ways of achieving registration of anaccess account, as discussed below.

The more traditional manner in which registration takes place is for amerchant or their representative to request registration and supplyidentification details by which the merchant can be identified,authenticated and contacted (e.g. for sending orders). An account isthen established by the owner of the merchant aggregator platform, bywhich the merchant can access particular functionality of the platform.The merchant will then log onto the platform and enter their bankaccount details by which settlement can be effected.

In contrast, in accordance with present teachings, the merchantaggregator platform is hosted (i.e. owned) by a merchant acquirer. Thismakes an alternative way of registering merchants available.

The merchant acquirer is usually a bank. In the present embodiment, aplurality of merchants use acquirer bank accounts held by the merchantacquirer. In order to establish acquirer bank accounts the merchantacquirer needs to authorise the merchant to perform transactions into,and from, an acquirer bank account. The merchant acquirer will collectdetails of the merchant sufficient to establish an acquirer bankaccount, and thus the merchant acquirer already possesses details aboutthe merchant sufficient to register an access account with the merchantaggregator platform.

In some cases, the merchant acquirer may automatically register anaccount with the merchant aggregator platform for a merchant uponallocation of an acquirer bank account to that merchant. This processbypasses the registration process which reduces time and complexity forthe merchant. This process also reduces the number of organisations andplatforms on which private details of the merchant need to be stored(i.e. they do not need to be stored by the merchant aggregatorplatform), thereby enhancing security of those details.

Once a merchant is registered with the merchant aggregator platform,they are able to upload details about the articles they have for sale,such as descriptions of products or services, product catalogues,promotion details, advertising material and so forth (step 104).

A consumer may then use the merchant aggregator platform to purchasearticles. In use, a consumer accesses the merchant aggregator platformand selects one or more articles for purchase (step 106). Articles maybe selected from a menu, catalogue, list or any other form of display.The consumer's selection is thus received through merchant aggregatorplatform.

To purchase the articles the consumer must provide the merchantaggregator platform with a suitable payment vehicle—e.g. credit card,debit card or bank account—from which funds can be debited to effectpurchase. This is achieved using a payment gateway that acts as aninterface between the merchant, or merchant aggregator platform, andmerchant acquirers. The consumer sends payment vehicle credentials—suchas card number, balance, expiry and CCV—of the payment vehicle to thepayment gateway (step 108) and the payment gateway communicates with themerchant aggregator platform to capture the purchase details. Thepayment vehicle credentials may also include a unique device or consumeridentifier. For example, the payment vehicle credentials may include theInternational Mobile Station Equipment Identity (IMEI) of a smartphoneon which the mobile app 202 is installed. While the IMEI is nottraditionally considered a credential of the payment vehicle, it can beidentifiable as a location for storage of payment vehicles (whereparticular types of digital wallet are used) and otherwise enablesauthentication of the device on which the purchase is being performedand thus increases confidence that the consumer is the true holder ofthe payment vehicle.

To send the payment vehicle credentials to the payment gateway, theconsumer may enter data manually. However, in the present embodiment,the consumer selects a payment Acceptance Mark which opens a digitalwallet. The consumer selects a payment vehicle from their digital walletand the payment vehicle credentials for that payment vehicle areforwarded to the payment gateway.

The payment gateway then creates a vehicle representative (VR) (step110). The VR acts as a proxy for one or more payment vehicle credentialsnecessary to perform a transaction. For example, where the paymentvehicle is a MasterCard® credit card, the vehicle credentials may be thecard number, expiry date, CCV and available balance. The VR is createdand associated with the vehicle credentials, and is then sent to themerchant aggregator platform to enable the purchase to take place.

In the present example, the credit card credentials do not have to besent from the payment gateway to the merchant aggregator platform. Thisimproves security of the credit card details.

Since it can be useful for a consumer to confirm whether they haveselected the correct payment vehicle, the PV may comprise, for example,the last 4-digits of the credit card number for display in the merchantaggregator platform. Thus the consumer will be able to confirm whichpayment vehicle has been selected, but a third party intercepting the VRor purchase details will not be able to ascertain the remaining12-digits of the MasterCard® credit card number.

When the merchant aggregator platform receives the VR the purchase cantake place. Thus the next step (step 112) is the receipt, through themerchant aggregator platform, of a purchase request confirming that oneor more articles have been purchased by the consumer. From a consumerperspective, this purchase request is initiated by selecting (e.g.clicking on or touching) a “Confirm”, “Buy” or “Submit” button on themerchant aggregator platform. From a system perspective, the selectionevent in which the “Confirm”, “Buy” or “Submit” is selected constitutesa purchase request confirmation.

Once the purchase request confirmation is received, purchase details aresent with the VR to the payment gateway (step 113). The purchase detailswill typically include the date and time of purchase, the amount of thepurchase, the articles purchased, a merchant identifier by which themerchant can be identified, and so forth. It will be appreciated thatone or more purchase details may be sent, provided that the purchasedetails are sufficient for the correct amount of funds to be deliveredto the correct merchant at settlement.

Once the payment gateway receives the VR and purchase details, itidentifies which payment vehicle credentials are associated with the VRand, correspondingly, with the purchase details (step 114). Thus thepayment gateway and merchant aggregator platform have enabled a purchaseto take place without both parties needing to know the payment vehiclecredentials.

It is important for the VR to accompany the purchase details since themerchant aggregator platform does not know the payment vehiclecredentials of the payment vehicle from which funds for the purchasewill be debited. As such, the merchant aggregator platform may have noother identifier by which the gateway can determine the payment vehiclecredentials, and thus the payment vehicle, from which funds should bedebited to afford the purchase.

Once the payment gateway has identified the payment vehicle credentialsassociated with the purchase, the payment vehicle credentials andrelevant purchase details (which may be all of the purchase detailssupplied to the payment gateway, or a subset of those details) arepassed to the merchant acquirer for on-going processing. Where thepayment vehicle is a credit or debit card, the merchant acquirer thensends those details on to a payment scheme (e.g. the MasterCard®network—step 116) that forwards the details to the issuer of the card(step 118).

As indicated by broken lines in FIG. 1, the payment scheme and issuermay not be involved in the purchase (and subsequent settlement) in someembodiments of the invention, or the payment scheme and issuer may bethe same party as the acquirer. These variations are intended to fallwithin the scope of the present disclosure.

With further reference to system 200 shown in FIG. 2, the merchantaggregator platform comprises a mobile app 202. Within the mobile app202 the articles (e.g. products and services) of multiple merchants canbe concurrently accessed by a consumer. In some embodiments, theconsumer can select articles from multiple merchants for purchase in asingle transaction.

The mobile app 202 displays information to the consumer sufficient forthe consumer to understand the nature of the articles they intend topurchase and the purchase amount for those articles. When seeking toconfirm purchase, the mobile app 202 will have received the VR (per step108) and can display to the consumer the last 4-digits of the consumer'scredit card, for example, to enable verification by the user of thepayment vehicle with which the purchase will be made.

The mobile app 202 displays a payment Acceptance Mark 204. Selecting(e.g. clicking on or touching) the payment Acceptance Mark sends awallet or card request 206 that opens a digital wallet 208 from whichthe user can select an appropriate payment vehicle 210, 212 with whichto make the transaction. Presently, payment vehicle 210 is a MasterCard®debit card and payment vehicle 212 is a MasterCard® credit card.

It will be appreciated that other mechanisms for initiating selection orinput of payment vehicle details may be used.

Once a payment vehicle has been selected from the digital wallet,payment vehicle credentials are sent (214) to the payment gateway 216.The payment gateway 216 thus receives all the actual details necessaryto afford a purchase or other transaction.

The payment gateway 216 serves as a repository for the payment vehiclecredentials while purchase actions are being carried out on the mobileapp 204. To prevent payment vehicle credentials from being transmittedto the mobile app 204, the payment gateway 216 creates a VR (see step110). The VR acts as a proxy for the payment vehicle credentials, butcannot be used to deduce or discover the payment vehicle credentials.

Once created, the VR is sent (218) to the mobile app 204 forassociation, by the mobile app, with the purchase. Once the purchase hasbeen confirmed, the mobile app 204 returns the VR to the payment gatewayalong with the purchase details (220). The purchase can therefore beeffected without the payment vehicle credentials ever having been passedto the mobile app or the merchant or merchants from whom the one or morearticles are being purchased.

The payment gateway 216 then maps the VR to the payment vehiclecredentials and thus the purchase details to the payment vehiclecredentials. The payment gateway 216 then forwards relevant ones of thepayment vehicle credentials and purchase details (222) to the acquirer224. What is meant by “relevant ones”, in relation to the paymentvehicle credentials and purchase details, is that sufficient detail ispassed to the acquirer for the acquirer to process the transaction. Such“sufficient detail” may be less than the amount of detail, and thus thenumber of payment credentials and purchase details, necessary to verifythe authenticity of the consumer for the purpose of determining whetherthe purchase is fraudulent, or to make the purchase, yet is sufficientto process the transaction.

The acquirer 224 then forwards those details (226) to the payment scheme228. The payment scheme 28 subsequently forwards the details (230) tothe issuer 232.

FIG. 3 shows a network 300 for achieving the method of FIG. 1. Thenetwork includes a plurality of merchants 302, a device, presentlyembodied by a smartphone 304 on which a merchant aggregator platform, inthe form of a mobile app, is installed, a memory device such as database306, a consumer 308, a payment gateway 310 and a communications system312. These parties interact to manage the purchase of articles by theconsumer from the merchants.

To manage on-going processing of the funds for the purchase transaction,the gateway 310 sends purchase details to the merchant acquirer 314 thatforwards the purchase details to a payment scheme 316 and those detailsare subsequently send to a card issuer 318. In some embodiments, thepurchase details will only comprise a transaction identifier (e.g. areceipt number) that is passed to the payment gateway with the VR. Themerchant aggregator platform can send the same transaction identifier,and other details as would appear on an invoice or receipt, to themerchant acquirer. The payment gateway then need only send the paymentvehicle credentials and transaction identifier to the merchant acquirerin order for the merchant acquirer to have sufficient detail toassociate the payment vehicle credentials with the purchase details andmanage ongoing processing of the transaction. In other words, there isno reason for the payment gateway to receive details of the purchase.Instead, the payment gateway serves as a mechanism for hiding paymentvehicle credentials to enable the merchant aggregator platform tooperate without the payment vehicle credentials.

In addition, in current practice, merchants each perform their owntransaction clearing process which then passes clearance details on tothe merchant acquirer to perform its clearing process. Where clearing isnot done within certain timeframes, issuers are not obliged to honourthe transactions. In the present embodiment, since the merchant acquirermay host the digital wallet, and thus have the payment credentials, andalso host the merchant aggregator platform, the merchant acquirer hassufficient detail to perform clearance without the merchant needing todo so. In other words, the merchant need not perform clearance fortransactions taking place through the merchant aggregator platform.

This has a follow on benefit with regard to transaction disputed byconsumers (e.g. where the consumer asserts they did not make thetransaction). In particular, since the merchant is not involved in theclearance process, the disputes are then handled between the merchantacquirer, scheme and issuer without any merchant involvement.

The merchants 302 communicate via their respective access accounts withthe merchant aggregator platform, presently mobile app loaded ontosmartphone 304. Information such as articles for purchase, catalogues,promotional material, advertising material and the like can be uploadedby the merchants 302 to the mobile app 304 which, indirectly, results inthat information being stored in database 306.

A consumer 308 then accesses that information through their smartphone304 in order to select articles for purchase. When it becomesappropriate to select a payment vehicle as described in relation toFIGS. 1 and 2, the consumer selects a payment Acceptance Mark on theirsmartphone 304 which enables selection of a payment vehicle thecredentials of which are sent to the payment gateway 310.

Communication between the merchants 302, smartphone 304 and paymentgateway 310 can be achieved using any appropriate means. Presently thatcommunication is achieved over a wireless network, using networkcommunication tower 312. Other potential networks for communicationinclude near-field communication networks and hardwired connectionsbetween the parties (particularly where the merchant aggregator platformis on a webpage).

After the purchase has been made and the details forwarded to the issuer318, the issuer 318 debits the consumer's account associated with thepayment vehicle. The issuer 318 subsequently settles the purchasetransaction by sending debited funds back to the payment scheme 316,then onward to the merchant acquirer 314, and via the payment gateway310 back to the merchant 302 from whom the articles were purchased (ordistributed to multiple merchants where the purchase relates to articlesacquired from multiple merchants).

FIG. 4 shows the settlement model 400 by which transactions made usingthe method of FIG. 1 are settled. The consumer 402 holds an accountassociated with the payment vehicle, the account containing funds thatcan be debited to afford purchase of the articles. Funds are debited(404) for the purchase by the issuer 406.

The issuer 406 then forwards the debited funds (408), minus anyapplicable fee or commission, to the payment scheme 410. Similarly, thepayment scheme 410 forwards the remaining funds (412) to the merchantacquirer 414, minus any applicable fee or commission.

In the usual course of settlement, the merchant acquirer 414 would passthe entirety of the remaining funds, again minus any applicable fee orcommission, to the payment gateway. The payment gateway takes its fee orcommission and then distributes funds to the merchant 416.

In the example shown in FIG. 4, the merchant acquirer 414 also owns themerchant aggregator platform and the acquirer bank account for themerchant 416. This enables the merchant acquirer 414 to deposit funds(418) directly into the acquirer bank account of the merchant 416 viainternal transfer (i.e. within the organisation).

In addition, the merchant acquirer 414 can send purchase details andpayment vehicle credentials to the payment scheme as discussed inrelation to FIG. 2, while also settling the purchase with the merchant416.

This configuration enables significant flexibility particularly sincethe merchant acquirer 414 has direct access to purchase or transactiondetails through ownership of the merchant aggregator platform. A method500 demonstrating the flexibility of settlement is broadly outlined inFIG. 5, and comprises effecting settlement of a purchase by:

providing a merchant aggregator platform hosted by a merchant acquirer(step 502);

sending purchase details of a purchase made by a consumer of one or morearticles offered for sale by a merchant through the platform, from theplatform to the merchant acquirer (504);

forwarding the purchase details from the merchant acquirer to a paymentscheme or issuer for debiting settlement funds from an account of theconsumer (506); and

forwarding, independently of the purchase details being sent to theissuer, settlement funds to the merchant to settle the purchase (508).

Step 504, in effect, means that the merchant need no longer sendinvoices to the merchant acquirer 414 since the merchant acquirer 414collects purchase details through the merchant aggregator platform. Thusthe merchant acquirer 414 can send settlement details (i.e. purchasedetails and payment vehicle credentials) to the issuer for settlement,and separately settle with the merchant 416. In some embodiments, thiswill enable settlement with the merchant 416 to bypass payment gateways.While bypassing the payment gateway can be achieved without payment of afee to the payment gateway, the merchant acquirer may deduct a fee onbehalf of the payment gateway from the settlement funds and transfer theremaining settlement funds into the acquirer bank account of themerchant. The fee deducted on behalf of the payment gateway may then beforwarded to the payment gateway separately.

FIG. 6 is a simplified block diagram of an exemplary network-basedsystem 600 used for effecting an electronic transaction. In the exampleembodiment, system 600 includes a server system 602, and at least onecomputer system. The computer system presently comprises multiple remotesystems 604, one system 604 being for each of the consumer device(although this may be a smartphone), payment gateway, payment scheme andissuer. The remote systems 604 are connected to server system 602. Inone embodiment, remote systems 604 include internet connectivity suchthat server system 602 is accessible to remote systems 604 using theInternet. Remote systems 604 may be interconnected to the Internetthrough a variety of interfaces including a network, such as a localarea network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), dial-in-connections,cable modems and special high-speed ISDN lines. Remote systems 604 couldbe any device capable of interconnecting to the Internet including apersonal computer (PC), a web-based phone, personal digital assistant(PDA), or other web-based connectable equipment.

A database server 606 is connected to memory device, presently 608,which contains information the catalogues, article descriptions,promotional material, advertising material and so forth, by which themerchant aggregator is populated with articles for purchase. In oneembodiment, centralized database 608 is stored on server system 602 andcan be accessed by potential users (e.g. merchants and consumers) at oneof the remote systems 604 by logging onto server system 602 through oneof remote systems 604. In an alternative embodiment, database 608 isstored remotely from server system 602 and may be non-centralized.Database 608 may store electronic files. Electronic files may includeelectronic documents, web pages, article descriptions, catalogues,advertisements, promotional material, image files and/or electronic dataof any format suitable for storage in database 608 and delivery usingsystem 600.

More specifically, database 608 may store any data and computer programsnecessary to achieve the methods of FIGS. 1 and 4.

The system 600 may actually be involved in collection of that data. Forexample, the system 600 may be involved in the provision of financialservices over a network and thereby collect data relating to merchants,account holders or customers, developers, issuers, acquirers, purchasesmade, and services provided by system 600 and systems and third partieswith which the system 600 interacts. For example, server system 602could be in communication with an interchange network.

Similarly, database 608 may also store account data including at leastone of a cardholder name, a cardholder address, an account number, andother account identifier. Database 608 may also store merchant dataincluding a merchant identifier that identifies each merchant registeredto use the network and/or merchant aggregator platform, and instructionsfor settling transactions including merchant bank account information.Database 608 may also store purchase data associated with Claims beingpurchased by a cardholder from a merchant, and authorization requestdata.

The database 608 may also be a non-transitory computer readable mediumstoring or embodying a computer program for effecting an electronictransaction. The program may include at least one code segmentexecutable by a computer to instruct the computer to perform a methodfor effecting an electronic transaction as described herein, for examplewith reference to FIG. 1 or 4.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary configuration of a computing device 700,similar to server system 600 (shown in FIG. 6). Computing device 700 mayinclude, but is not limited to, database server, application server, webserver, fax server, directory server, and mail server.

Server computing device 700 also includes a processor 702 for executinginstructions. Instructions may be stored, for example, in a memory area704 or other computer-readable media. Processor 702 may include one ormore processing units (e.g., in a multi-core configuration).

Processor 702 may be operatively coupled to a communication interface707 such that server computing device 700 is capable of communicatingwith a remote device such as user computing device 704 or another servercomputing device 700. For example, communication interface 707 mayreceive requests from a client system 704 via the Internet.

Processor 702 may also be operatively coupled to storage device 708.Storage device 708 is any computer-operated hardware suitable forstoring and/or retrieving data. In some embodiments, storage device 708is integrated in server computing device 700. For example, servercomputing device 708 may include one or more hard disk drives as storagedevice 708. In other embodiments, storage device 708 is external toserver computing device 700 and may be accessed by a plurality of servercomputing devices 700. For example, storage device 708 may includemultiple storage units such as hard disks or solid state disks in aredundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) configuration. Storagedevice 708 may include a storage area network (SAN) and/or a networkattached storage (NAS) system.

In some embodiments, processor 700 is operatively coupled to storagedevice 708 via a storage interface 710. Storage interface 710 is anycomponent capable of providing processor 702 with access to storagedevice 708. Storage interface 710 may include, for example, an AdvancedTechnology Attachment (ATA) adapter, a Serial ATA (SATA) adapter, aSmall Computer System Interface (SCSI) adapter, a RAID controller, a SANadapter, a network adapter, and/or any component providing processor 702with access to storage device 708.

In operation, the processor 702, coupled to a memory device (includingmemory device 704 and storage device 708), is configured to receivethrough a merchant aggregator platform, a selection of one or morearticles from a plurality of articles offered for purchase by aplurality of merchants on the merchant aggregator platform. The platformin this instance is hosted by a merchant acquirer. The processor isconfigured to thereafter pass payment vehicle credentials of a paymentvehicle to a payment gateway. Using the payment vehicle credentials, theprocessor is configured to create a vehicle representative (VR—which maybe a token created by a tokenising process) at the payment gateway andassociate the VR with one or more credentials of the payment vehicle,and then send the VR to the merchant aggregator platform. The processorhosting the merchant aggregator platform is configured to receive apurchase request and forward purchase details with the VR to the paymentgateway. The processor at the payment gateway is configured to identifythe payment vehicle credentials and associate them with the purchasedetails based on the VR. Thus the payment vehicle credentials andpurchase details are paired and to the merchant acquirer for on-goingprocessing of the transaction.

The computer system 700 may be instructed to effect an electronictransaction by a computer program embodied on a non-transitory computerreadable medium, such as memory device 704 or storage device 708. Theprogram stored on the device 704 708 would include at least one codesegment, and most likely many thousands of code segments, executable bya computer to instruct the computer to perform the requested operations.

In operation in relation to effecting settlement of a purchase, theprocessor 702, coupled to a memory device (including memory device 704and storage device 708), is configured to provide a merchant aggregatorplatform hosted by a merchant acquirer. The processor is also configuredto send purchase details of a purchase made by a consumer of one or morearticles offered for sale by a merchant through the platform, from theplatform to the merchant acquirer. This ‘sending’ of purchase detailsmay be directly from the merchant aggregator platform to the merchantacquirer, or may pass through the payment gateway between the merchantaggregator platform and the merchant acquirer. The processor thenforwards the purchase details from the merchant acquirer to a paymentscheme or issuer for debiting settlement funds from an account of theconsumer. Thereafter, the processor is configured to forward,independently of the purchase details being sent to the issuer,settlement funds to the merchant to settle the purchase.

Similarly, the programs executed to cause a computer system to performthe methods described herein may be stored remotely. To this end, thecomputer system may constitute a client computer system of anetwork-based system for effecting an electronic transaction and/or forsettling a purchase.

Many modifications and variations of the present teachings will beapparent to the skilled person in light of the present disclosure. Allsuch modifications and variations are intended to fall within the scopeof the present disclosure. Moreover, to the extent possible, featuresform one of the embodiments described herein may be used in one or moreother embodiments to enhance or replace a feature of the one or moreother embodiments. All such usage, substitution and replacement isintended to fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

1. A method of effecting an electronic transaction, comprising: a.receiving, through a merchant aggregator platform, a selection of one ormore articles from a plurality of articles offered for purchase by aplurality of merchants on the merchant aggregator platform, wherein theplatform is hosted by a merchant acquirer; b. passing payment vehiclecredentials of a payment vehicle to a payment gateway; c. creating avehicle representative (VR) at the payment gateway and associating theVR with one or more credentials of the payment vehicle, the VR beingusable by the merchant aggregator platform, in place of the one or morecredentials, but from which the one or more credentials areindeterminable; d. providing the VR to the merchant aggregator platform;e. receiving, through the merchant aggregator platform, a purchaserequest confirming that the one or more articles have been purchased; f.sending purchase details of the purchase request with the VR to thepayment gateway; and g. identifying the payment vehicle credentials andassociating them with the purchase details, at the payment gateway,based on the VR and passing the payment vehicle credentials and purchasedetails to the merchant acquirer for on-going processing of thetransaction.
 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the merchantaggregator platform is a mobile app and the receiving step comprisesreceiving a selection of one or more articles through the mobile app. 3.A method according to claim 1, wherein the merchant aggregator platformis a website and the receiving step comprises receiving a selection ofone or more articles for purchase through the website.
 4. A methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the payment vehicle comprises a credit ordebit card.
 5. A method according to claim 4, wherein passing paymentvehicle credentials comprises passing, to the gateway, at least one of acard number, card balance, card expiry date and a unique deviceidentifier for identifying a device hosting the merchant aggregatorplatform.
 6. A method according to claim 5, wherein passing paymentvehicle credentials comprises passing the unique device identifier,wherein the unique device identifier comprises an international mobilestation equipment identity for the device.
 7. A method according toclaim 1, wherein creating a VR comprises creating a unique characterstring associated with one or more of the payment vehicle credentials.8. A method according to claim 7, wherein creating a VR comprisescreating a random character string.
 9. A method according to claim 1,wherein the VR comprises the last four digits of a credit card or debitcard number.
 10. A method according to claim 1, wherein associating thepayment vehicle credentials with the purchase details comprises mappingthe VR to one or more stored VRs stored by the payment gateway, toidentify the one or more credentials associated with the VR.
 11. Amethod according to claim 1, wherein the merchant acquirer holds asettlement account, into which settlement funds are deposited forsettling the purchase, and an acquirer bank account for each of one ormore of the merchants, the method further comprising moving funds, froma transaction performed on the merchant aggregator platform, internallyto the merchant acquirer from the settlement account into the acquirerbank account of at least one of the merchants.
 12. A method according toclaim 11, the method further comprising establishing an access accountthrough which a merchant can access the merchant aggregator platform,and receiving, from the merchant, details of at least one article tooffer for purchase on the merchant aggregator platform.
 13. A methodaccording to claim 12, wherein establishing an access account comprisesestablishing an acquirer bank account using merchant details of themerchant, and automatically establishing an access account linked to theacquirer bank account such settlement funds for purchases made throughthe merchant aggregator platform are automatically transferred from thesettlement account into the acquirer bank account upon receipt of thosefunds by the merchant acquirer.
 14. A method according to claim 11,further comprising depositing funds into the acquirer bank account uponreceipt of those funds into the settlement account of the acquirer. 15.A method according to claim 14, wherein the depositing step bypasses thepayment gateway.
 16. A computer system for effecting an electronictransaction, the computer system comprising: a memory device for storingdata; a display; and at least one processor coupled to the memory deviceand being configured to: receive, through a merchant aggregatorplatform, a selection of one or more articles from a plurality ofarticles offered for purchase by a plurality of merchants on themerchant aggregator platform, wherein the platform is hosted by amerchant acquirer; pass payment vehicle credentials of a payment vehicleto a payment gateway; create a vehicle representative (VR) at thepayment gateway and associate the VR with one or more credentials of thepayment vehicle, the VR being usable by the merchant aggregatorplatform, in place of the one or more credentials, but from which theone or more credentials are indeterminable; provide the VR to themerchant aggregator platform; receive, through the merchant aggregatorplatform, a purchase request confirming that the one or more articleshave been purchased; send purchase details of the purchase request withthe VR to the payment gateway; and identify the payment vehiclecredentials and associating them with the purchase details, at thepayment gateway, based on the VR and passing the payment vehiclecredentials and purchase details to the merchant acquirer for on-goingprocessing of the transaction.
 17. A method for effecting settlement ofa purchase, the method comprising: providing a merchant aggregatorplatform hosted by a merchant acquirer; sending purchase details of apurchase made by a consumer of one or more articles offered for sale bya merchant through the platform, from the platform to the merchantacquirer; forwarding the purchase details from the merchant acquirer toa payment scheme or issuer for debiting settlement funds from an accountof the consumer; and forwarding, independently of the purchase detailsbeing sent to the issuer, settlement funds to the merchant to settle thepurchase.
 18. A method according to claim 17, further comprisingdebiting, by the issuer from a consumer account, funds for settlement ofthe purchase and forwarding the funds to the merchant acquirer.
 19. Amethod according to claim 18, further comprising transferring funds fromthe merchant acquirer to the merchant.
 20. A method according to claim19, wherein the transferring step comprises an internal transfer offunds from the merchant acquirer to the merchant.